Combined egg beater and bottle cleaner

ABSTRACT

A combined egg beater and bottle cleaner which includes a first handle, a second handle pivotally connected with the first handle, a spiral spring forcing the second handle to move away from the first handle, a fixing bolt fitted in the bolt hole and having a center axle, a toothed rack, a pinion having an upper end formed with a cylindrical hole for receiving a center axle of the fixing bolt and a lower end provided with a plurality of serrations, an adaptor having a plurality of serrations engaged with the serrations of the pinion, the adaptor having a U-shaped lower end having two convex portions adapted to engage with two recesses of a center rod of an agitator or two recesses of a center rod of a brush; and a driven gear having a smaller gear and a larger gear respectively engaged with the toothed rack and the pinion.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention is related to a combined egg beater and bottle cleanerwhich is easy to operate and simple in structure.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The egg beater is a hand-operated kitchen utensil for bringing about achange in the viscosity or other physical characteristic of the batterbeing worked on. The conventional egg beater includes a manually-crankeddrive wheel having opposed gear faces engaged by pinions keyed to theshafts of a pair of beater elements, the wheel being supported within anopen frame. The user must grasp the handle in one hand and uses hisother hand to turn the crank when operating the conventional egg beaterthereby causing much inconvenience in use. Furthermore, the conventionalegg beater cannot be used for cleaning bottles.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide acombined egg beater and bottle cleaner which can obviate and mitigatethe above-mentioned drawbacks.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention is related to a combined egg beater and bottle cleaner.

According to the present invention, there is provided a combined eggbeater and bottle cleaner which includes a first handle, a second handlepivotally connected with the first handle, a spiral spring forcing thesecond handle to move away from the first handle, a fixing bolt fittedin the bolt hole and having a center axle, a toothed rack, a pinionhaving an upper end formed with a cylindrical hole for receiving acenter axle of the fixing bolt and a lower end provided with a pluralityof serrations, an adaptor having a plurality of serrations engaged withthe serrations of the pinion, the adaptor having a U-shaped lower endhaving two convex portions adapted to engage with two recesses of acenter rod of an agitator or two recesses of a center rod of a brush;and a driven gear having a smaller gear and a larger gear respectivelyengaged with the toothed rack and the pinion.

The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief introduction tothe present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects ofthe present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detaileddescription of the invention and the claims should be read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specificationand drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similarparts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will becomemanifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to thedetailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which apreferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of thepresent invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of a combined egg beater and bottle cleaneraccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2A is a perspective view of the present invention;

FIG. 2B is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 2A;

FIG. 3A illustrates the working principle of the present invention;

FIG. 3B illustrates the engagement between the U-shaped member and thecenter rod of the agitator;

FIG. 4A illustrates the engagement between the spring and the left hand;

FIG. 4B is another perspective view of the present invention;

FIG. 4C illustrates the working principle of the present invention; and

FIG. 4D is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 4B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments only, and arenot intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of theinvention in any way. Rather, the following description provides aconvenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of theinvention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made inthe function and arrangement of the elements described without departingfrom the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Referring to FIG. 1, the combined egg beater and bottle cleaneraccording to the present invention mainly comprises a left handle 1, aright handle 2, a spiral spring 11, a fixing bolt 3, a pinion 4, adriven gear 5, a toothed rack 6, a spring 7, a pin 9, an adaptor 10, anagitator 100, and a brush 200.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 2A and 4A, the left handle 1 has an upper endpivotally connected with an upper end of the right handle 2. The upperend of the left handle 1 has the same structure as the upper end of theright handle 2. The upper end of the left handle 1 and the right handlehas a circular recess in which is fitted the spiral spring 11. Thespiral spring 11 has two ends 18 fitted in a first slot 17 of thecircular recess of the left handle 1 and a second slot 17 of thecircular recess of the right handle 2, so that the left handle 2 will beforced by the spiral spring 11 to move outwardly.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 2A and 2B, the lower end of the left handle 1 hasan enlarged portion formed with two aligned holes 91, a bolt hole 27 anda pinion hole 26 which is aligned with the bolt hole 27. The fixing bolt3 is fitted in the bolt hole 27 and has a downwardly extending centeraxle 31. The toothed rack 6 has an enlarged end portion which is formedwith an elongated slot 24. The enlarged end portion is engaged with acover 13. The toothed rack 6 is slidably fitted in the enlarged portionof the left handle 1. A spring 7 is fitted over the center axle 31 ofthe fixing bolt 3. The pinion 4 is fitted in the opinion hole 25 and hasa cylindrical hole at the upper end for receiving the center axle 31 ofthe fixing bolt 3 and a plurality of serrations 15 at the lower end. Theadaptor 10 has an upper end engaged with a recess at the lower end ofthe pinion 4 and a plurality of serrations 16 at the intermediateportion engaged with the serrations 15 of the pinion 4. The adaptor 10has a U-shaped lower end having two convex portions adapted to engagewith the recesses 22 of the center rod 12 of the agitator 10 or therecesses 22 of the center rod 121 of the brush 200 (see FIGS. 1, 4B, 4Cand 4D). The driven gear 5 is fitted in the enlarged portion of the lefthandle 1 and kept in place by a pin 9 inserted through the aligned holes91 and the driven gear 5. The driven gear 5 includes a smaller gear atthe upper portion and a larger gear at the lower portion respectivelyengaged with the toothed tack 6 and the pinion 4. The lower end of theright handle 2 has a cylindrical projection 23 slidably fitted in theelongated slot 24 of the toothed rack 6 (see FIGS. 1 and 4B).

Referring to FIGS. 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B, when the right handle 2 ispressed, the toothed rack 6 will go through the left handle 1 therebyrotating the smaller gear of the driven gear 5. Then, the larger gear ofthe driven gear 5 will drive the pinion 4 to rotate thus rotating theadaptor 10 and therefore turning the agitator 100 or the brush 200. Whenthe right handle 2 is released, the spiral spring 11 will push the righthandle 2 to move away from the left handle 1 so that the toothed rack 6will return to its original position thereby rotating the smaller of thedriven gear 5. Meanwhile, the larger gear of the driven gear will drivethe opinion 4 to rotate thus rotating the adaptor 10 and thereforeturning the agitator 100 or the brush 200 in a reversed direction.Hence, it is only necessary for a user to press the handle 2continually, the agitator 100 or the brush 200 will be rotated to beatthe egg or clean a bottle.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together may also find a useful application in other types ofmethods differing from the type described above.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown anddescribed and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intendedto be limited to the details above, since it will be understood thatvarious omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the formsand details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be madeby those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spiritof the present invention.

1. A combined egg beater and bottle cleaner comprising: a first handlehaving an upper end and a lower end, said upper end being formed with acircular recess having a slot, said lower end of said first handlehaving an enlarged portion formed with two aligned holes, a bolt holeand a pinion hole aligned with said bolt hole; a second handle having anupper end and a lower end, said upper end of said second handle beingpivotally connected with said upper end of said first handle, said lowerend of said second handle having a circular recess having a slot; aspiral spring fitted between said circular recesses of said first andsecond handles and having a first end fitted in said slot of said firsthandle and a second end fitted in said slot of said second handlethereby making said second handle tend to move away from said firsthandle; a fixing bolt fitted in said bolt hole and having a downwardlyextending center axle; a toothed rack having an enlarged end portionformed with an elongated slot, said enlarged end portion being engagedwith a cover, said toothed rack being slidably fitted in said enlargedportion of said first handle; a spring fitted over said center rod ofsaid fixing bolt; a pinion fitted in said opinion hole and having anupper end formed with a cylindrical hole for receiving a center axle ofsaid fixing bolt and a lower end provided with a plurality ofserrations; an adaptor having an upper end engaged with a recess at alower end of said pinion and a plurality of serrations at anintermediate portion engaged with said serrations of said pinion, saidadaptor having a U-shaped lower end having two convex portions adaptedto engage with two recesses of a center rod of an agitator or tworecesses of a center rod of a brush; and a driven gear fitted in saidenlarged portion of said first handle and kept in place by a pininserted through said aligned holes and said driven gear, said drivengear including a smaller gear at an upper portion and a larger gear at alower portion respectively engaged with said toothed rack and saidpinion, a lower end of said second handle having a cylindricalprojection slidably fitted in said elongated slot of said toothed rack.